A representative of the Kurdistan Democratic Party said it was suspected that the mine had been planted by Turkish Kurd guerrillas of the PKK or Kurdistan Workers Party.

He said two other people had been injured in the blast on a remote road in Barwari district earlier this week. The Kurdish enclave in northern Iraq has been under the control of two factions of Iraqi Kurds -- the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan-- since the end of the Gulf War.

The PKK has been fighting Turkey in pursuit of an independent state; the Turkish forces have entered the Iraqi territories frequently to crack down on the rebels, which froze its offensive since the arrest of its leader Abdulla Ocalan in 1999 – Albawaba.com